Happy New Year: The Secret Filth of Champagne Bubbles
Published by Joel December 31st, 2006 in Booze. Share This
Personally, I find champagne to be the giver of unwanted morning trauma and limit myself to a single glass. If you’re serving up the bubs this New Year’s Eve, however, take this bit of seasonal advice from the Associated Press and wipe those glasses with a natty towel:
In the latest dispatch from the frontiers of champagne science, researchers find that hollow cellulose fibers knocked off a cloth or paper towel used to dry a flute act as bubble-formation, or “nucleation,” sites. As a result, glasses wiped with a towel show “an excess of effervescence,”
Of course, folk wisdom says the more bubbles, the more quickly the body absorbs the alcohol, so be sure to chase any flutes of that foul liquid with pulverized glass shards in a suspension of grain alcohol.
Be aware: don’t drink and drive, despite the fact that we live in a country designed to encourage the behavior; if for no other reason, there will be an abundance of police checkpoints this evening. It’s only New Year’s Eve once a year—take a cab, even if it will cost you. We will not bail you out if you’re tossed in the clink.
Lastly, the best hangover cure I’ve ever found is to wash down a couple of aspirins with as much water as you can chug before you lay down to pass out. Alcohol and analgesics may be a liver slagger, but it seems to take the edge off in the morning long enough to let you stumble into the kitchen to make the first pot of coffee.
Be safe and have fun. See you next year!
The science behind the joy of the bubbly [AP/NWF Daily News via /.]
I like aleve before I go to sleep the best. I will settle for advil. They both say to take it easy if you are an alchoholic. Aspirin I hear is the worst for you with alcohol. Regardless, it’s worth it to avoid feeling like a zombie the next day.
It’s a cliche but the best hangover cure I ever used was during a week of boozing in London. Each day started with spicy Bloody Mary, a pint of Guinness and then a full English breakfast at a cafe on the Kings Road. The stomach was settled and the buzz from the drinks cleared away any headache.
My usual preventative for a regular suburban hangover is to drink two large glasses of milk before retiring for the evening. A friend recommends downing a couple of multi-vitamins with the milk.
Your mileage may vary.
Everyone thinks I’m full of shit when I say this, but it’s the absolute truth. For every glass of alcohol I drink — beer, wine or liquor — I chase it with at least a rocks glass of water. It replaces what I piss out (mostly) and prevents the dehydration that, for me at least, is the major cause of hangover.
Been drinking steadily since college and, I kid you not, have YET to get hung over, no matter how much I drank the night before.
I used to make a point of picking up a bottle or two of Diet Coke on the way home from the bars, knowing that any residual lethargy and pain the following morning would be largely eradicated within minutes after chugging some down.
In a pinch, I still fall back on Diet Coke - but if I’m able, my preference is Diet Rock Star Energy Drink. After the third sip it begins to taste a lot less like the pig bile of the first sip, but more importantly, within a minute or two, I feel right as can be. The vitamin/caffiene/taurine whallop to the system is amazing, and there’s no sugar to confuse things.